Billy Horschel won for the first time in nearly three years on Sunday when he took the AT&T Byron Nelson in a playoff over Jason Day. Horschel shot a 69 on Sunday to Day's 68 to get into the playoff and watched on as Day missed a 4-foot putt for par that would have sent the tournament to a second playoff hole.

 

The victory was the first for Horschel since he went on a torrid run in the 2014 FedEx Cup Playoffs and took home the Tour Championship. 

 

But on a week when his normally sharp iron play was not as tight as he would have liked (43rd in approach shots), Horschel put on a short game show. He finished first in the field in putting and ninth in shots around the green. It was not a classic Horschel performance, but he left with what he came for: a trophy and a bid into the 2017 U.S. Open and 2018 Masters.

 

He yelped congratulations at his partners Day and James Hahn all day when they hit good shots, scolded himself for putting to bad spots, shook Day by the shoulders when he chipped in for birdie with just three holes to go and fist pumped mightily when he poured in a 59-foot putt for birdie on the back nine.

 

He was rewarded for it on the 16th hole, a par 5 which he reached in two and made birdie. Two pars on the 17th and 18th and an escape from a narrow Day birdie miss on the finale hole, and Horschel was primed to go a few more rounds with the 10-time champ.

 

It ended with a whimper with Day's three-jack on the 18th green in playoff hole No. 1, and despite being excited about the win, Horschel didn't love how the tournament ended.

 

Dustin Johnson tied for 13th and was never really in the mix this week, and he still finished in the top 15. That's the kind of season he's having in 2017. Johnson simply made too many bogeys this week. He was T47 in that category and T8 in birdies. The reason for the bogeys is that he was leaving himself in terrible spots. Johnson finished outside the top 50 in strokes gained on approach shots